There are indications that more retirees will continue to experience shortfalls and delays in the payment of their pensions, accrued rights and other pension benefits as the budgetary proposal for pensions, gratuities and retirees benefits in the 2024 appropriation bill declined by 21.3 per cent.
According to the 2024 appropriation bill, provision for Pensions, Gratuities & Retirees Benefits in the 2024 budget proposal is N673.01, billion down from N854.81 billion budgeted in 2023.
This is even on the backdrop of the persistent delay by the Federal Government in actual payment of pension accrued rights of retirees to enable them access their pensions from their Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), as provided in the Pension Reform Act 2014.
Vanguard findings from the National Pension Commission, PenCom, show that the last time the Federal Government, FG, paid its employee’s accrued pension rights was in March 2022, to the tune of N14.92 billion. This has left many pensioners stranded and poorer.
Accrued Pension Rights represents an employee’s benefits for the past years of service up to June 2004, when the Pension Reform Act (PRA) that birthed the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) came into effect.
However, while commenting on the last payment of accrued rights by the federal government, Head of Corporate Communications Department at PenCom, Abdulqadir Dahiru, expressed appreciation to the FG towards ensuring that accrued rights arrears are cleared. But he also stated: “Government has done well in the past, but more needs to be done. It’s a challenge and the Commission is doing everything possible to engage the government to offset the arrears.”
He said the Commission would continue to engage the FG for payment of the accrued rights arrears.
PenCom disclosed that the Federal Government in March 2022 released the sum of N14.92 billion for the payment of accrued rights for retirees under the CPS, covering four months arrears, while FG had in January 2021 released N31.97 billion, and another N16.67 billion in December in same year 2021.
